The Abdominal Transplant Fellowship Program was founded in 1981 and is is certified by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons for training in kidney, liver, and pancreas transplantation.
As one of the oldest and most respected programs in transplantation, UCSF has served as a watermark for numerous transplant centers around the world. Our liver transplant program is one of the nation's largest, has a one-year survival rate of 92 percent (compared with the national average of 87 percent), and achieves excellent results even with high-risk patients. The UCSF kidney transplant program, also one of the nation's largest, was established in 1964 and has completed more than 8,300 such procedures.
Abdominal Tranplantation at UCSF has a long and rich history and has been led by a distinguished Division Chiefs, listed below in chronolgical order.
John Najarian (1963-1966)
Folkert Belzer and Samuel Kountz (1967-1974)
Oscar Salvatierra (1974-1991)
Nancy L. Ascher, M.D., Ph.D. (1991-1998)
John P. Roberts, M.D.(1999-2017)
Chris E. Freise, M.D. (2017-) (Interim Chief)
Major Milestones
- 1964 - 1st living donor kidney transplantation
- 1967 - 1st deceased donor kidney transplant
- 1988 - 1st deceased donor liver transplant
- 1989 - 1st pancreas transplant
- 1992 - 1st living donor liver transplant